David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand that. The problem is that the cheque is written by the Secretary General and is given to RTÉ, but any questions that are put about how that money is specifically spent is then a matter for RTÉ. There is not a service level agreement in place and from what I hear from the Secretary General, it would not be appropriate for him to intervene in how RTÉ does its business, nor would it be appropriate for us as a committee. We do, however, have a job to probe how money is spent. I am not sure that the responses we will get from the Secretary General will answer my concerns. At some point, we will need to hear from RTÉ. If we were to agree to it, which I think we should, we should set out clear parameters of what exactly we want to talk to RTÉ about and have a clear understanding between us and RTÉ before it comes in. I have raised the issues I would want to put to RTÉ, which I think are very legitimate questions which RTÉ should answer because they concern taxpayers' money.